


Dr Who And The Detectives

by graestu



Category: Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26796349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graestu/pseuds/graestu
Summary: Eccentric inventor Dr Who and his granddaughter Susie love an unsolved mystery!





	Dr Who And The Detectives

One quiet afternoon in August 1965, eccentric inventor Dr Who was reading " _The Big Book Of Unsolved Mysteries For Girls_ " with his granddaughter Susan. This was her second favourite present - from older sister Barbara - for her 12th birthday last week.

They finished the story of the odd disappearance of the famous oil painting, showing the extinct Blue Flamingo, at the turn of the century.

Dr Who had an idea.

"Come along, Susie," he chuckled, scurrying out to TARDIS, the time travelling machine that looked like a police box, which he'd invented and kept in his back garden.

Susan grabbed her favourite present, a hefty silver torch he had given her, and which she insisted on taking everywhere, and followed.

Once inside, they spun some wheels on the controls, and pulled a big lever set in the floor. TARDIS vanished, and moments later reappeared in the Regal Museum's moonlit attic storeroom.

Dr Who and Susan stepped out to find hundreds of paintings lined up on shelves like books. Other valuable items were stacked up on furniture in a dusty shambles.

Susan was about to switch on her torch, when a clatter at the skylight made her freeze.

The window opened, the end of a rope was thrown in, and a little old lady climbed down it.

"Well, well," said Dr Who, nudging Susan to shine her torch in the intruder's face.

"I don't mean any harm, mister," she pleaded in a girlish voice. She covered her eyes and backed away, adding, "I'm not a thief!"

Then she removed her disguise, revealing herself to be no older than Susan. She edged around to a four poster bed and pulled back its curtains. Inside were her few possessions. Some clothes, school books and copies of The Strand magazine, featuring the newest adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

"I live here," she explained. "I'm an orphan with nowhere else to go. Are you Mr Sherlock Holmes?"

"No, no, my dear, Dr Who. This is my granddaughter, Susan."

"You're the spit of him! When he's dressed up as an old man for a case. But I'd never steal anything."

"I don't doubt that," Dr Who reassured her. Being surrounded by such treasures, it was obviously true.

"My name's Jane. I thought you were here for The Blue Flamingo."

The nearby church clock struck nine.

"Quick!" said Jane. "Switch off the light! The nightwatchman!"

In the darkness, they watched the glow from a gas lamp move slowly across the gap under the door. The door handle rattled, and the light moved away, with the nightwatchman grumbling to himself.

Jane took the key from her pocket and smiled, as Susan turned her torch on again. "He'll be back at five o'clock," she said.

"The Blue Flamingo..." said Dr Who, as he and the girls made themselves comfortable on some antique chairs.

"It was supposedly taken on my first night here," said Jane. "But all I saw was a commotion. I used that to creep in, looking for somewhere to stay, and found this key in the door."

"You don't think the picture was stolen?" asked Susan.

"No."

"Curious," said Dr Who.

"Mr Holmes would know what to do," sighed Jane. "But no one's asked him. He's my hero."

"I'll fetch him!" said Dr Who, going into TARDIS, which promptly vanished.

Jane stared open mouthed as Susan did her best to explain, using terms like 'magician's cabinet'...

Dr Who walked downstairs from the empty room above Sherlock Holmes's study, and knocked on his door, with his own unlikely tale...

"Look at this!" said Susan proudly, demonstrating her torch.

They took it in turns to wave the beam around.

Suddenly, as it lit up the racks of paintings, Susan stopped.

Jane had exactly the same thought at exactly the same time.

"The Blue Flamingo!" they said together.

"The nightwatchman hid it here to collect when the fuss died down!" guessed Susan. "But how will we ever find it?"

"May I?" said Jane, taking the torch.

Crouching down, she directed its light across the tops of the dusty frames. One had been put there so recently, it wasn't dusty at all!

They pulled it out.

They had found The Blue Flamingo!

Just then, TARDIS returned, and out stepped Dr Who. With Sherlock Holmes!

Susan and Jane excitedly revealed their findings, indulged by Holmes, who already did know what to do from the clues in Dr Who's story. Putting the painting securely in TARDIS, he suggested they should sit telling stories until the nightwatchman came back.

And for the next few hours, that's what they did.

As five o'clock approached, the girls were sent safely into TARDIS, while the two men hid in the shadows.

The door handle rattled, and to the nightwatchman's astonishment, he fell into the unlocked room and was captured. Sherlock Holmes delivering a wallop on the head with Susan's torch for good measure. Then with Dr Who, dragged the unconscious crook into TARDIS.

A few minutes later, they were carrying him down the stairs, past Sherlock Holmes's study, to where Doctor Watson and Inspector Lestrade were waiting to bundle him into a carriage headed for Scotland Yard.

Before waving them off, Holmes slipped a scribbled note into Watson's hand...

"Mrs Hudson does provide a fine breakfast!" announced Holmes, and his three guests, Dr Who, Susan and Jane agreed.

Their chatter continued for some hours until Watson returned. He handed a package to Holmes, who passed it to Jane, saying, "There is, of course, a reward."

Then added casually, as if the subject had even been mentioned, "I've decided that if you are to become my apprentice, you'll need some of these. You'll be living in the upstairs room."

Jane unwrapped the parcel. It was full of freshly printed calling cards, and she gave the first one to Dr Who.

Squinting through his glasses, he read it aloud, " _Miss Jane Marple, Junior Consulting Detective, 221c Baker Street_ "

And you can find out how she got on with that in:

_The Adventure Of The Mystery Of Rose Lodge_ \- graestu - ao3 - 19 October 2020

&

_THE PATERNOSTER GANG ! in The Adventure Of The Creepy Cyclist_ \- graestu - ao3 - 19 October 2020


End file.
